Target Locations In Canada: Here's The Complete List Of Where Target Stores Will Be Opening In 2013

The Huffington Post Canada

Posted:
07/12/2012 12:50 pm EDT
Updated:
07/13/2012 10:38 am EDT

A Target store in Michigan, with an Ontario vehicle in the parking lot. The company has released a list of all its Canadian locations slated to be opened in 2013. (The Canadian Press Images/Stephen C. Host) | CP

Discount retailer Target has released a list of all its Canadian locations slated to be opened in 2013.

The much-anticipated rollout of one of the U.S.’s most popular retail chains in Canada will begin in the spring of 2013 with the opening of the first of 125 locations, the company said in a press release Thursday. More stores are expected to open in 2014 and beyond.

The vast majority of Target stores will be former Zellers locations. Taking over the Hudson Bay Company-owned retailer has given Target an instant foothold in the Canadian retail market, but has upset the approximately 10,000 Zellers employees slated to lose their jobs as Target arrives.

The company cleared a significant regulatory hurdle last week when Heritage Minister James Moore approved Target under the Investment Canada Act, on the condition that itn promote and sell Canadian content, particularly Canadian music, DVDs and magazines.

"Construction has already begun on our first set of stores and we are excited to see the transformation as the Target brand comes to life in Canada," Target Canada President Tony Fisher said in a statement.

Here’s the list of Target locations set to open in Canada, with approximate launch dates.

The iconic American upscale retailer is in talks with Hudson's Bay Company to become a "store within a store" at HBC locations in Canada. The move is seen as an attempt by The Bay to fight off the possible arrival of Nordstrom's (see next slide).

One of the most prominent competitors to Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom announced in September, 2012, that it plans to open locations in Cadillac Fairview-owned malls in Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver. The stores will open in former Sears locations.

Discount retailer Marshalls entered the Canadian market in March, 2011, and recently announced an expansion of six new stores in Ontario. At least a dozen of its 750 stores are now located in Canada.

The home improvement retailer began moving into the Canadian market in 2007, with a store in Hamilton, Ontario. It has since expanded to 31 locations in Ontario and Alberta.

Ritzy fashion chain J. Crew opened its first Canadian location in the summer of 2011, and immediately ran into public anger about the U.S.-Canada price gap. Shoppers complained that J. Crew's Canadian prices were about 15 per cent higher than in the U.S.

The arrival of Target to Canada in 2013 is easily the most hotly-anticipated retail arrival since Walmart came north of the border in 1994. The discount retailer is planning more than 100 stores across the country, having taken over a significant number of Zellers locations. But the store is currently engaged in a labour dispute, as it tries to keep former Zellers employees from unionizing in the new stores.